Delhi Police questions Twitter India MD over ‘Congress toolkit case’: Sources

Team Udayavani, Jun 17, 2021, 11:31 AM IST

A senior-level team of Delhi Police’s Special Cell questioned Twitter India managing director Manish Maheshwari in connection with the ‘Congress toolkit case’ sources said on Thursday.

According to ANI report, the police team was in Bengaluru on May 31 to question Maheshwari.

The move came a week after Delhi police visited the Twitter India offices in Lado Sarai, Delhi and Gurgaon on May 24 to follow up on notices sent to Twitter in connection with an inquiry into a complaint regarding the alleged COVID-19 ”toolkit” and sought clarification from the microblogging site for classifying a related tweet by BJP leader Sambit Patra as “manipulative”.

Earlier, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology had written to Twitter objecting to it tagging some of the posts on an alleged Congress “toolkit” against the Central government, as “manipulated media”.

It asked Twitter to remove the tag as the matter is pending investigation before a law enforcement agency. Meanwhile, Twitter has lost its status as an intermediary platform in India as it does not comply with new IT rules. According to the sources, Twitter is the only social media platform among the mainstream that has not adhered to the new laws.

Now, instead of being considered just a platform hosting content from various users, Twitter will be held directly editorially responsible for posts published on its platform. The implication of this development is that if there is any charge against Twitter for alleged unlawful content it would be treated as a publisher – not an intermediary – and be liable for punishment under any law, including IT Act, as also the penal laws of the country, sources stated.

Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) had on June 5 said that it had given Twitter one last notice to comply with the new rules concerning social media companies. The ministry said in the letter that the New Intermediary Guideline Rules have become effective from May 26.